If some people don't like funk music then it's just the wrong time for them. They will get it. It's addictive.
Even though I loved the Fifties doo-wop, you couldn't hold on to it. You had to change, or you was gon' be antique real quick, like the Ink Spots. And then we were at Motown and you had the Rolling Stones, simple rock & roll became the new thing.
Pay attention to them kids, don't let your feelings be hurt because they taking your place. They supposed to. But if you wanna stay around with them, you ain't got to copy 'em. Just get the ones that's real young, too young to even be copying yet, because you know they gonna be the next thing.
And I always say, when Southern people get on the dance floor, they ain't getting off.
I'm always surprised that I'm still around funk and that people are still into it.
When I'm just tryna funk, it's gonna be the Staple Singers, man - Pop Staples. And Ray Charles. Ray could take 'Eleanor Rigby' and make that funky.
Styles move too fast to be partial to anything. If it's funk, that's enough for me. I don't care how fast or slow it is. I got my grandkids up front rapping and doing the new thing. They're teaching each other, bringing us up to date.
Well, I try to be as funky as I need to get.
When I hear music that parents hate, or older musicians hate, I know that's the new music. When I hear older people saying, 'I hate Rap or Techno' I rush to it.
I save all the energy until I get on the stage and then I have a burst of energy and look like I've been jamming all day long. But other than that, I'm a granddad, great granddad.
The key to looking good in a cape is the way you take it off. You should look like those sword-fighting people, the Three Musketeers. Taking it off, swinging it, that's what makes it cool.
Testify' went from a clean Motown song to straight psychedelic. Loud and feedback and people was loving it, because Motown was ending now.
You can rebel against everything adults say. When I want to find out what the new music is, I find out what parents hate.
Once you reach a certain age with radio stations, you've got to be an oldie but a goodie. If you wanna do something new, you've got to find a new way to present it to people.
You stayed up on the record business by knowing who was doing what. You watched the Phil Spectors. That's what told you what to do, what was hot.
Record companies would rather you stay dumb, not even think of it as a business, so they can either rip you off or get you out of the way in five years to make way for the new groups.
I was at the Apollo Theater all the time, skipping school, and I worked in a barbershop. That's how I started with doo-wop. Now I've come full circle. I did all kinds of music. I used to work on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley.
The Mothership is in the Smithsonian now. That's probably one of the biggest displays there.
I came in after the Smokey Robinsons, Temptations, Clovers, and Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters. I came along at that level, when there was harmonizing.
